Thursday, August 16, 2007

Tim Donaghy pleads guilty: He's looking at up to 25 years in prison. Gulp. Good luck reffing the games in Cell Block D, where "spreads" and the "over/under" have an entirely new meaning.

Is this scandal behind the NBA now? Hardly. The Donaghy part might be, but the aftershocks will linger, every time a fan screams at an official "What: Are you on the take or something?!?" Which will happen, oh, only 40-50 times PER GAME. (I wonder if NBA fans in the arena will create an unspoken, nationwide social compact NOT to do that, because everyone knows it would be so debilitating to the sport.)

Beckham Scores: Hmm...maybe there's something to his arrival. He scored his first MLS goal (and assisted on another) in a 2-0 Galaxy win over D.C. United. No one was paying attention, but still: Isn't this what MLS paid him all that money to do -- get MLS attention they otherwise wouldn't get?

Vick Watch: His lawyers want him to spend less than a year in jail in exchange for a guilty plea. Prosecutors have him so nailed that they can afford to hold out, but do they want to just get their guy now and be done with it? (The NFL's punishment, on the other hand, is another matter.)

MLB Pennant Races: Indians back in first in AL Central, thanks to Studly Fausto Carmona. I haven't been talking much about the day-to-day drama of the various division (and Wild Card) races, but this is the best year anyone I have talked to can remember, in terms of having all of the divisions be up for grabs this late in the season. Let's hope it continues this time next month.

MLB Stud: David Price, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2007 MLB Draft, who signed a 6Y/$11M deal with the Devil Rays to be the cornerstone of their franchise, which he instantly becomes. Can they/will they get him up to the big-league level before September 1?

(Meanwhile, the Nats gave LHP Jack McGeary, a 6th-round pick with first-round talent who everyone assumed would go to college, a $1.8 million bonus to sign with them, obliterating the slotting system that had him valued around $150K. Bold move for a team that had a tremendous draft haul, that has a terrific batch of young pitching arms in the minor-league pipeline and that has overachieved in the second half of 2007, given the pre-season expectations they would contend for Worst Record Ever. Fun time to be on the Nats bandwagon.)

MLB Dud: Prince Fielder, who was suspended 3 games by MLB (he's appealing).

Jose Offerman: Suspended indefinitely! (Hardly a surprise. Note how you don't hear much from the wing(nuts) of baseball purists who talk about "unwritten rules" that shrugs off the usual violence on the field as "part of the game." (Because that's one of the stupidest notions in sports, ultimately leading to moments like we saw Tuesday night.)

Meanwhile, we live in the Era of YouTube and no one has produced a video clip of the attack yet? What the hell? Get on that, people!

Pac-Man Fever: Well NOW he wants to be a rap star. Truly, he is a talent who knows no boundaries. Get ready for it: Pac-Man's debut "Let It Shine" will be released on August 27. (Obviously, we're all waiting for "Make It Rain 2."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have to give up his iconic No. 8: Numbers matter in NASCAR more than any other sport, if only because of the merchandising and because announcers tend to refer to drivers by their car number. Much like Kobe switching to No. 24 though, this is an opportunity for Junior and his new team to make new dollars off all his fans buying new merchandise with his new number.

Big Daddy Drew filed a report over at KSK. What he failed to explain is that I had an episode of "Fantasy Draft Rage." In alternative come-back rounds, Brian from Awful Announcing -- who was picking directly in front of me -- selected (no: STOLE!) not one (Calvin Johnson), not two (Alge Crumpler) but THREE players! (Byron Leftwich was the third).

For Johnson, I was disappointed, but - hey - them's the breaks. When he swiped Crumpler, I lost it, shouting a string of obsenities and threats into the 14-person conference call, all directed AA's way. The rest of the group found this highly amusing. I feel like my draft was ruined. (It didn't help that I didn't have much of a backup plan on any of the picks, with the resulting effect being me blinded by my rage/disappiontment and making a terrible pick.)

Notably, I had never experienced that before. I blame the KSK-fueled environment.

Norfolk paper reported on Tuesday that Vick was waiting on word from the NFL before taking a plea-- if they said a plea would mean a lifetime ban, he probably wouldn't take it.

I remain 100% convinced that dogfighting is a common subculture in the NFL and the league has known for years it's going on. I think the NFL will offer Vick a 1-2 year suspension in exchange for keeping quiet about just how common it is. If they ban him for life, what reason is there for him to not expose the whole thing?

Dan -- in April, when you were predicting a 40 win season for the Nationals, I argued why they would be much better, and definitely not a 100 loss team. Now, they are on pace to beat the 71 wins they had last year, with Alfonso Soriano and $30M more payroll. This team has a lot of good, young talent and plays hard every day.

But, signing McGeary was absolutely essential. They are moving into the new stadium next year and will have cash to burn. But the fans (real ones anyway) are growing mildly restless at the thought of where the team is putting that money.

So, the Nationals took a 6th round flier on a first round talent. The guy slipped because he stated he was going to Stanford, almost no matter what. When the Nats drafted him, he said he was going to Stanford unless he got high 1st round type money. MLB has the "slotting" rules, but if any team needed to violate them it is the Nationals, given the state their farm system is in due to MLB ownership. This signing is great for the Nationals, as they got a first round talent (one of 3 first round pitchers to sign) and are able to keep the fans pacified until next year, at least. Consider that we signed our top 20 draft picks, of a draft class highly regarded as the best in MLB this year, and add that to our quickly developing talent pipeline and the Nats can be contenders in the NL East far before your April prediction of 2013.

Dan, congrats on losing your keeper league every year for the next four or five years. That'll be fun.

Johnson was a death blow. But then you compounded it by taking a huge risk on Jacobs (who I like, but the Giants don't seem to like). S. Moss is worthless, so is J. Horn. If Gonzalez was available four rounds after Horn, I'd bet there were other, better young players at Horn's slot. At least you had good round 5-7 picks...

Special MLB Stud to Cincinnati's Ryan Jorgensen, who hit a homer for his first major league hit. The nice part about it was that it came at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs faithful promptly threw it back, so Mr. Jorgensen got to keep his first ever home run ball from the big leagues.

Re beckham:He will not save the MLS,period.I love football(soccer),but hes not enough to gain my own casual interest.I bet most of those who attended Sunday's New England Revolution game couldn't even name 10 players on both teams,beside Mr.Beckham.It's true.Not even my favorite team in Manchester United could save MLS.Soccer hasn't bin on the USA national radar since you HAVE to pay for most Europe/South American games.I've talked to people overseas about Beckham,most think he's washed up and overrated at best./Rant

The one thing I find odd is that everyone is making a big deal out of dog fighting which they should yet you never hear anything about cockfighting. I know in Florida with such a huge Puerto Rican population that cock fights happen all the time. One time I was taken to a cock fight by a friend because he had to pick something up there. I know the Puerto Ricans call is something like the sport of gentlemen or something like that. Either way it is pretty cruel.

I wonder how well the Rays would do if they were in another division where they didn't have to play the yanks and sox so many times every year. Still they always make it interesting this time of year in the East because they play the role of spoiler so well. With Price signed the Rays might actually have a dominating group of starting pitchers next year.

So a guy with a gambling problem faces 25 years in prison, while a couple of guys who beat, torture and brutally murder animals on a regular basis could only do a total of 6?How ass-backwards is the US justice System?

And if the prosecutors have Vick & Co. so nailed, I hope they hold out and nail their balls to the wall.

As far as the penalty from the NFL goes: since Vick is even considering a plea- it means he's guilty, and he knows he's guilty. So the NFL shouldn't wait for the court's sentence, they should ban him for life right now.

Interesting take from Micheal Smith on Mike and Mike this morning regarding Vick. If vick goes to jail and the falcons cut him and he has not signed with another team any suspension he gets will not start until he is on a teams roster. He was saying that if Tank Johnson who is unsigned, was to sign say in week 3 of the season he would not be able to play until week 11 after serving the 8 weeks. I am not sure if that is 100% correct but if Vick goes to jail for say 18 months missing the next 2 NFL seasons and was suspended for say 2 years by the commish it could be 5 season before he plays again

@Herion Sheik:Cock fighting is not regarded as quite as bad as dog fighting for one primary reason; dogs are man's best friend, chickens are walking food. Sure, cockfights are just as cruel in a perfectly logical sense, but logic does not dictate emotions.

ryan from boston - the thing is, MLS doesn't need saving. Your disinterest aside, it already has a good financial footing (or at least is on its way to), with a solid base of supporters and sponsors.

Now, the challenge is whether they can attract fans who don't give a shit about soccer, the way NFL, NBA and MLB can, and at least for the short term, Beckham has done exactly that. And sure, most of those in attendance couldn't name players other than Beckham, but that's not too different from the casual fan in the Big 3 sports.

Also, I have no idea what you mean by "Soccer hasn't bin on the USA national radar since you HAVE to pay for most Europe/South American games."

Finally, the people you've talked to overseas aren't too bright. While Beckham is overrated by casual fans, he tends to be underrated by eurosnobs because it's fashionable to dismiss him as a product of marketing hype. But he was the driving force behind Real Madrid's championship run and he has at least 2 good years of world-class soccer left in him.

LJ @ #3... that mean you passed on either Tomlinson, Gore or Stephen Jackson for a guy whose yards per carry dropped by almost a full yard last season, while he picked up 80 more carries behind a much, much worse offensive line. Not to mention he has Herm Edwards coaching him, so he's in line for about 450 carries a season from now until he basically breaks in half... sometime in mid-2008.

At least that pick was backed up by a running back who runs people over but forgets to bring the ball with him.

I agree with blake redgrave up above though - don't sleep on the Oilers' D. they haven't allowed a point in like 12 years now...

I would not pick LJ this year in the first round. He is going to have average at best stats. The KC line is a shell of its former self, whatever QB is playing, they are new, and he is at that age where the body starts to break. Buyer's beware!

dan, since i am in the "burned out of nfl fantasty" world, saw this very funny piece on sportshernia. sorry if it cuts close to home...http://thesportshernia.typepad.com/blog/2007/08/fantasy-footbal.html

badly drawn: and Beckham's HOT...heehee Had to give the female point of view on the interest in Beckham.

joe~When the scroll on tWWL showed that Donaghy faces up to 25 years in prison, my husband and I both nearly choked. Rapists don't serve that kind of time, and just like you said, Vick & Co. are looking at a couple of years. What, you can murder animals but you can't bet on the sport you officiate? Hmmm, gotta love America if you are in the dog-fighting business.

Yes, there is. Fixing games is illegal as is point shaving. It falls under a bunch of laws that have to do with affecting gambling. Like it wouldn't just be against the rules of the gaming commision if a casino used weighted dice, it would also be against US law.

Think of it like insider trading. It's illegal to use info you got to make money with an unfair advantage on Wall Street and the same goes for sports.

You know what really grinds me gears? Besides Lindsay Lohan of course! When Sports Illustrated puts out "regional covers." Note to Sports Illustrated...since Ohio State is not on a cover this year like the past 3 years, look at the address of the subscriber. If said address is in Ohio, DO NOT send them a cover with Mike Hart on the front! Dear Lord...I just ripped the cover up right when I walked into the door. Assholes.

Wow, only having 1 running back changes that league severely. Can't believe you passed on Brady for Andre Johnson. Your first two picks saw you getting the most available points on the board, but just because there was a wide receiver run going on didn't mean you should have avoided brady. See if you can try to trade Santana moss for Tom Brady though. HE might try to get more because he could have drafted moss on the backside, but tell him he passed on him because he needed to finally get his 2nd running back.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.